Bosh leads Raptors past Clippers

Toronto, ON (Sports Network) – Chris Bosh had 27 points and seven rebounds,
to lead the Toronto Raptors past the Los Angeles Clippers, 122-110, at Air
Canada Centre.

Morris Peterson added 18 points while Anthony Parker, Jorge Garbajosa and T.J.
Ford scored 17 points apiece for the Raptors, who have won three in a row and
six of their last seven contests. Ford also handed out seven assists.

“We’ve just been trying to stay aggressive on the offensive end,” Bosh said.
“We’ve been moving the ball well to start off games. Guys have just wide open
shots and we’ve knocked them down.”

Cuttino Mobley poured in 24 points and Elton Brand netted 21, grabbed 10
rebounds and dished out six assists for the Clippers, who had a three-game
winning streak come to an end. Tim Thomas had 18 points and eight rebounds in
the setback.

“Defensively we must not have been very good to let them shoot 58 percent for
the game,” Clippers coach Mike Dunleavy said. “But they made a lot of tough
shots. They answered every time we made a run back at them and cut it to
single digits and gave ourselves a chance. They made a big shot back at us or
we made a mistake of some kind and never got us back to where we put enough
pressure on them where they could feel the heat.”

Corey Maggette’s driving hook narrowed the gap to 40-38, but Toronto reeled
off 10 unanswered points, capped by Ford’s jumper for a 50-38 margin in the
second quarter.

After Los Angeles cut the deficit to single digits on Maggette’s free throw,
63-54, Garbajosa drained a trey with 30 ticks on the clock for a 66-54
halftime advantage.

Bosh’s layup extended the lead to 81-63, but Los Angeles closed the quarter
with a 19-9 spurt, including eight points from Sam Cassell, pulling within
90-82 heading into the fourth.

Shaun Livingston’s jumper got the Clippers as close as eight, 106-99, but that
was as close as they would get.

Toronto tallied seven of the next eight points, ending with Bosh’s three-point
play to put the game away.

Maggette’s jumper as time expired brought the Clippers within 36-29 after the
opening 12 minutes of play.

Game Notes

Cassell finished with 17 points and eight assists while Maggette had 10
points and six boards. Livingston ended with 11 points…The Raptors shot 70
percent from the field in the first half, which tied a franchise record for
any half…Toronto’s Jose Calderon tied a season-high with 12 assists. He also
scored 10 points..Toronto shot 59 percent from the floor, while the Clippers
connected on 47 percent of their shots from the field. The Raptors are 9-0
when shooting 50 percent or more from the field…The Raptors swept the
season series against the Clippers (2-0)…Los Angeles had a season-high 11
threes.